Ask HN: Where Is the C Community?

#1

Post by totalperspectiv » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

Are there any centralized places that they tend to aggregate or organize? I'm looking for places to learn more modern practices of C. I see a few books out there, but they seem to have mixed reviews at best.

Re: Ask HN: Where Is the C Community?

#2

Post by syrrim » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

C is interesting as a language in being almost completely dependent on the system in which it is embedded. Many other languages are expected to provide facilities to the programmers which c leaves to the operating system. The result is that c is a very simple language, and very little discussion is needed regarding the particulars of the language. The communities using c that form tend instead to focus on the systems in use. You will find separate communities using c for kernel programming, embedded systems, and for higher level programs. If you are looking for a community then you should identify what you would like to do with c, and find a community specific to that.

Re: Ask HN: Where Is the C Community?

#3

Post by totalperspectiv » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 5:47 PM UTC

syrrim wrote: post #2

C is interesting as a language in being almost completely dependent on the system in which it is embedded. Many other languages are expected to provide facilities to the programmers which c leaves to the operating system. The result is that c is a very simple language, and very little discussion is needed regarding the particulars of the language. The communities using c that form tend instead to focus on the systems…

That is an excellent and informative point. Bioinformatics is the subgroup that I am interested in for C, but that already tends to be pretty niche. The next best thing are the 'tool builders', of other command line tools. I've been enjoying reading the BSD utilities source code.

Re: Ask HN: Where Is the C Community?

#4

Post by philonoist » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:56 AM UTC

If I understand you correctly, there is one in UK - Association of C and C++ programmers association (https://www.accu.org/)

Re: Ask HN: Where Is the C Community?

#5

Post by ldasj » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 9:54 AM UTC

Most C developers I have met are not very active online. Talking about their work in person is also a mixed bag. Maybe they just don't like talking about it.